New Year, New You, New Season - Part 6

New Year, New You, New Season-Part 6

Good Morning and praise the Lord.  Continuing with our series, please turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 32.

Deuteronomy 32

Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee, and established thee? Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.  For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this. For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. O that they were wise, that they understood this that they would consider their latter end! How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?  For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. And he shall say, where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.  For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel: And he said unto them, set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.  For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

The Lord is crying out to us today to get right.  We commit sins of commission and omission, as well as thoughts, words and deeds.  Everything that we have ever accomplished, must be attributed to God.  Without Him, we are nothing, no matter how many people try to tell us otherwise.

The Lord is perfect, and we can only strive for perfection in Him.  We live in a wicked world, and each generation born seems to get more and more evil.  Just look at the times we live in; children are disobedient, and they have no respect for their elders.  They cuss out their parents, who for some reason are being told that they can’t put their hands on them in correction by the local authorities.

Just about everything is corrupted, from the government, the laws of the land and everyone that holds a position of power.  I know that makes it hard to pray for those who have rule over us, but at the end of the day, God requires that we do.  Trust that He knows what He’s doing, even if they don’t.

It would be nice to go back to the old days, where most families stayed together, people were kinder and gentler to each other, and the body of Christ actually meant something to the unsaved.  However, society has almost made it illegal to name the name of the Lord, and people shy away from hearing the gospel.  Mind you, it’s not necessarily because they don’t believe in God, but they don’t like His people.

That should give us pause.  Even though we don’t physically bow down to a crafted idol, what is keeping us from being effective enough to reach a lost and dying world who hasn’t accepted the greatest gift of all?  Do we provoke the Lord by what we subscribe to?  Are we following after the gods of the world?

Do we work a 40 hour week, or do we get a second job in order to keep up with the Joneses?  How often are we going to the house of God?  Do we find a reason to stay away, or are we eager to spend time with the saints?  Is our life truly balanced, or are we running around like a chicken with its head cut off?

Please know that the Lord gives us the formula for balance, Him first, family second and career third.  Let’s look into this further, shall we?  God is our Heavenly Father, and the giver of all good gifts.  However, are we only communicating with Him when we get into trouble, or do we wake up with a smile, and the first sound out of our lips is to say good morning to the Savior?

He is the source, Jehovah Jireh, our provider.  We can’t forget that.  He doesn’t want to hear from us just because we need something.  He loves to hear from us on the regular, just checking in to worship and adore Him, not because we’re trying to butter Him up for a gift, but because of Who He is.

If we aren’t in prayer, which should be constantly, then we have no idea where we’re going.  We have no direction, or we’re looking to other people, places and things to satisfy us, when all we need to do is look up to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  He is the Solid Rock on which we need to stand, not the distractions of the world.

No matter how much you work, money will slip through your hands if you’re not giving the Lord what belongs to Him.  I know that there are many schools of thought about tithing and offerings, but in the grand scheme of things, 10% isn’t that much.  He holds the cattle on a thousand hills, so do you really think that holding on to all your money is going to make you prosper, when the word of God says otherwise?

As far as family is concerned, you can’t be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good.  If you’re spending all your time at church, how do you interact with your family?  They will grow to hate it, and it’ll be your fault.  Please spend time on your individual development with God, but make a real effort to be with your family.  Ask the Lord how to be a better husband or wife, as well as a better parent and grandparent.  He will show you what to say and how to act.  If you’re not on the same spiritual level with your family, don’t ever act like you’re Jesus, Jr.  They will never come to you with any struggles, because you’re too judgmental.  Learn to listen with your spiritual ears, so that you know what to pray for.

If you have a job or own a business, know that you’re there for a reason.  You can’t be prosperous if you’re never at your desk, and your boss is looking for you, while you’re talking to your friends.  If you want to be promoted, then you need to do some personal business development.  Why should you get a greater position if you don’t learn the ins and outs about what you currently do?

Ask God to show you yourself, and pray that you will listen intently to the truth.  If there are any strongholds that need to be broken, you may have to turn your plate down, get off of social media, or turn off your television to spend time with God, just listening, and not talking all the time.  May the Lord bless you, and we’ll see you tomorrow, God willing.